From the Blogs

• Interview: José González Tells The Story of Junip
  Although José González may be best known for his acoustic solo albums (2007's In Our Nature and 2003's Veneer), his band Junip is not to be mistaken as a "José González and friends" kind of project. Instead, the trio has from the start,  always been equally composed of José Gonzaléz, Elias Araya, and Tobias Winterkorn. The Swedish group p […]
• CD Review - The Cash Box Kings "Black Toppin’"
  It’s 2013, and most of the blues and R&B performers who once recorded for labels like Vee-Jay, Specialty, Chess, Aladdin, Duke and Peacock have departed for hopefully happier shores. However, the music that once emanated from these vintage labels – by Larry Williams, Louis Jordan, Wynonie Harris, Gatemouth Brown, Memphis Slim, Mama Thornton, Lightnin’ Ho […]
• CD Review - Various Artists "Music Is Love (A musical tribute to CSN&Y)"
  For what it’s worth; long may they run. Crosby, Still, Nash and Young have been a part of my musical life since my early teenage years with my brother wearing out his first copy of DÉJÀ VU on the family radiogram. Subsequently I’ve become a tireless fan of Mr. Young and adding tracks from the others to VA recordings for sunny days in the garden. So; it was w […]
• Willie & Lukas Nelson - Just Breathe
  Last June, with what felt like a last breath of grief, my brother, sister-in-law and I drove down the Abilene Highway that runs between Dallas and Abilene, Texas. With the hot summer wind on our backs, we rolled toward a small town, Winters, where my mother’s casket waited for burial between my 46 year-old brother and 34 year-old dad. It was a lonely trip.   […]
• CD Review - Jason Isbell "Southeastern"
  It's dark, gritty and personal, and perhaps the clearest glimpse yet into the imagination of a brilliant singer-songwriter who just gets better and better. Southeastern, Jason Isbell's fourth studio record, listens like a collection of musical short stories.  Isbell's characters speak with clear voices, and generally in first person.  In sever […]
• Lissie Draws Outside the Rock Island Lines
  Professionally known as Lissie, Elisabeth Corrin Maurus identifies with another one-word pop-culture phenomenon not named Madonna, Beyonce or Pink. The rock-pop singer-songwriter who was raised in the Midwest still has googly eyes for Annie, the spunky fictional character she played as a precocious 10-year-old at Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse in her hometown of […]